A Revolution in Wave Riding
George Greenough could be called many things, but “conventional” or “uninspired” would not apply. Greenough revolutionized surfing cinematography, mat surfing, and kneeboarding, but he was most notably the catalyst for the movement that would destroy the very foundation of the 1960’s prevailing longboard ethos. The Shortboard Revolution sparked strangely enough with a kneeboard Greenough christened Velo.
His innovative design boasted a “spoon” shape bristling with innate flex. Structured with a fiberglass mid section and foam rails, Velo’s shape appeared a spaceship among fossils in the lineup. But more specifically it was the definitive Greenough fin design that effectively put business-as-usual out of business. Its 11-inch high-aspect fin was wide and thick at the base. It swept back and tapered to a sharp tip. The flexing fiberglass foil (inspired by a tuna fin) released energy with each turn.
Velo was the inspiration for Nat Young’s winning board “Magic Sam”. Sam was lighter and thinner than standard equipment of the day and sported Greenough’s fin. Nat Young’s first place performance at the 1966 World Surfing Championship in San Diego signaled a moment when futuristic design and performance splashed new color across surfing’s competitive canvas, effectively doing away with the old guard and ushering in the “Shortboard Revolution”. Young’s powerful style enhanced by the lighter board and Greenough fin left the old school reeling in the past.
Long before his revolutionary status, Greenough’s life began auspiciously in Santa Barbara. Born an heir to a railroad fortune and descendent of American sculptor Horatio Greenough, George spent his formative years fishing, diving, and kneeboarding before moving later to northern New South Wales, Australia. Greenough is remembered for both eccentric and brilliant behavior. Stories abound of his anti-shoe fetish and relentless tinkering and invention. He produced films, sailed the Pacific in a 39′ boat he built himself and even designed wind generators and air mattresses. Greenough developed his own camera water housing to snap innovative in-the-tube perspective shots. With a heavy 16 mm camera attached to his back, he rode a rubber mat in and out of tubes for some of the most intensely surreal POV images ever seen. This led to film projects such as the classic “The Innermost Limits of Pure Fun”. His work even garnered the attention of rock legends Pink Floyd who included his ethereal images in their 1972 film, Echoes.
By 1968, George Greenough was solidified in surfing history, as the shortboard had become the weapon of choice. For years, Greenough avoided crowds by spending winters in California and Australia, and after a short stint as a stand up surfer, he switched exclusively to kneeboards and rubber mats. And what he did on them was amazing. It’s impossible to argue that his deep, gouging turns and full speed carves were eons beyond his time. You could call George Greenough a lot of things, but Nat Young just called him the greatest surfer in the world.
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